My Designer Icon – Halston

Halston is everything the 70s was.  After achieving great fame in 1961 for creating the infamous “Pill Box” hat worn by Jackie Kennedy for her husband’s inauguration, Roy Halston Frowick’s iconic 1970s women’s ready-to-wear designs made him a household name putting US fashion on the global map.

Being America’s first internationally renowned designer, Halston’s famous label was worn by a host of style icons including Elizabeth Taylor, Bianca Jagger, Liza Minnellie and the original Halstonettes’ Pat Cleveland and Anjelica Huston (often appearing arm in arm with the man himself) all fans of his glittering gowns, draped jersey dresses, ultra suede wrap coats and breezy kaftans.

Halston became part of the seventies phenomenon surrounded himself with New Yorks’ most influential and fashionable names as his designs came to represent the famed night spot, Studio 54.

Halston may have passed on in 1990, however the designer’s brand of seventies glam lives on influencing many designers today including the likes of Marc Jacobs who’s SS 11 collection showcased clingy jersey shirt dresses and slim jumpsuits.

2011 Spring/Summer Fashion Trends

A key characteristic of popular trends is that they occur in 20 year cycles. The Milestone years to pay attention to this year will be the 70s, 50s, and 1930s.

But for the 2011 Spring/Summer collections displayed, it’s the 1970s that are due for a reinterpretation. The fully-fledged 1970s glam vibe championed by Tom Ford in the 1990s is finally back!  Think of the rock hard parting 1970s rock stars and Studio 54 regulars such as the gold dust women like Bianca Jagger, Diane von Furstenberg, Diana Ross and Stevie Nicks.

For women in the 1970s, hip hugger jeans, pantsuits and hot-pants were worn with chunky platform shoes.  Rachel Zoe has perfected the 70s look —part hippy chick, part disco. Rachel uses bold prints, earth tones and cultural styles which were very popular in the 1970s.  Rachel shows her love for 70s fashion by wearing everything from the wooden platform shoes through to carrying the boho hippy bag.

Portman’s ambassador Abbey Lee Kershaw for the upcoming Autumn Winter 2011 campaign also shows her sporting a 70s luxurious vibe wearing beautiful prints that evoke the bohemian glamour we all think of when we read or hear about the era.

Key designers to draw 70s inspiration from are Yves Saint Laurent, Zandra Rhodes, Jean Muir, DVF (wrap dress), Karl Lagerfeld for Chloe, Cacharel, Halston, Geoffrey Beene and the Gucci by Gucci 2008 advertisement directed by David Lynch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2QFZ-Njmjo&feature=fvst